Process of producing textile yarns



Patented May 27, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE raocnss F PRODUCING TEXTILE YARNS Harry-R. Buckley, Cumberland, Mi, assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application May 1, 1940, Serial N 0. 332,686

2 Claims. ('Cl. 57-157) tion of stapilized yarns in which the broken fila-,

ments project to a greater degree than heretofore attainable.

Still another object of. this invention is the production of lofty stapilized yarns without substantially affecting the strength and the tenacity of said yarns.

Other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter from the following detailed description.

Continuous filament yarns may be converted into yarns simulating those made from staple fibers by various ,methods. According to one method the continuous filament yarn is wound from'bobbin to bobbin and during its passage from one bobbin to the other it is contacted by a revolving glass-paper, sand-paper or emerypaper covered rotatable roller which cuts the yarn into filaments by abrasion. The tension of the yarn and the pressure and speed of the roller are so regulated that only a few filaments of the yarn are severed at any one point. Thus, while substantially every filament is severed in many places along its length the severed points are so distributed with respect to those of other filato produce yarns resembling yarns spun from staple fibers.

While the yarns so produced have some resemblance to yarns spun from staple fiber, it has long been desired to produce a yarn which bears a greater resemblance to such spun yarns.

ments that they do not come together at the yarn contacts the sides of the opening and different filaments are severed by the rough scraping action of the abrasive along different points of the yarn so as toproduce a yarn composed of short lengths of filaments of any desired length, which yarn is similar in appearance to a staple fiber yam. Various other cxpedients may be used in which the above principles are applied The abrasive action of the powder pass- This may be accomplished to some extent by more drastic abrasion and cutting, but such action tends to produce a yarn whose strength and tenacity are far from satisfactory.

I have now discovered that stapilized yarns having'a lofty beard and more nearly resembling spun yarns may be produced if the initial slightly twisted yarn is subjected to a twisting operation after the filaments have been cut or abraded so that the yarn passes through the zero twist during the twisting operation while being given any further desired degree of twist. By treating the cut or abraded yarn in this manner a yarn is produced which has an extremely desirable soft and fuzzy appearance yet which retains its original strength and tenacity to a high and commercially satisfactory degree.

In treating the yarns in this manner one may start with yarns of standard twist and produce a stapilized yarn with an anti-standard twist or, preferably, one may start with a yarn of anti-standard twist, stapilize the yarn and finish up with a stapilized yarn having a standard twist. Any suitable abrading or cutting means may be used to change the continuous filamentary character of the yarn to one which is composed of short lengths of fiber. As is obvious,

depending on the choice of stapilizing means and the manner in which the process is carried out, yarns may be produced containing shorter or longer lengths of cut filaments.

The yarns, after being stapilized, may be twisted on any yarn twisting device as is well known in the art. A ring or cap spinning machine may be used and the yarn may be twisted in an upward or downward direction. The means used to cut or abrade the yarn are interposed at any suitable point before the yarn is twisted through the zero twist point. While these various methods may be used, 1 preferably use a ring spinning machine and abrade the yarn by passing it through an annular shaped abrasive disc positioned at a point just above or below the ring spinner, depending, of course, upon whether yarn is being twisted in an upward or downward direction.

The degree of twist in the yarn prior to stapllizing may vary, and, depending upon the uses to which the stapilized yarn is to be put, the final twist in the yarn after stapilizing will also vary. Ordinarily I start with a yarn having a twist oi about 0.8 to about 3 turns per inch which may be standard or anti-standard as indicated. After the yarn is stapilized the reverse twist inserted beyond the zero twist point will vary from about 0.8 to about 20 turns per inch. Of course, when the stapilized yarns are given a twist greater than about turns per inch, such treatment will decrease the desirable loftiness of the yarn.

My process may be applied to any type of continuous filament yarn such as yarns composed of organic derivatives of cellulose, for example, cellulose esters and cellulose ethers, yarns composed of reconstituted cellulose such as viscose, nitrocellulose and cuprammonium artificial silk, and may also be applied to natural silk. It may also be applied to yarns consisting of a mixture of filaments of two or more of the above types of materials.

This process may be applied to single yarns or may be applied to two or more yarns simultaneously by breaking the filaments and stapilizing the single yarns in any suitable manner and then imparting a doubling twist to said yarns as they are plied together. By this method they pass through the zero twist point while being doubled and a very lofty yarn is produced. Likewise two or more yarns of different materials, as mentioned above, may be stapilized and plied together to obtain any desired differential effect. Such diflerential efiects may be obtained by plying a lustrous stapilized yarn with a continuous filament yarn of subdued luster or vice versa. In another embodiment, the difierential efiects may be obtained by plying an organic derivative of cellulose yarn with one of reconstituted cellulose and thereafter differentially dyeing the plied yarn to obtain vari-colored effects.

Yarns stapilized and twisted in the above described manner are very suitable for purposes where a lofty-bearded broken filament yarn is desired. When two or more ends of these yarns are plied and twisted to form a yarn, the latter are strong, tenacious and possess to a markeddegree the soft appearance of a yarn spun from staple fibers.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Process for the conversion oi. continuous filament yarns into a continuous product containing short lengths of filament, which comprises causing a twisted bundle of continuous filaments to pass in contact with a stapilizing device and after said twisted bundle of filaments is stapilized changing the direction of twist of said bundle.

2. Processfor the conversion of continuous filament yarns into a continuous product containing short lengths of filament, which comprises causing a plurality of twisted bundles of continuous filaments to pass in contact with stapilizing devices and aftersaid twisted bundles of filaments are stapilized plying said stapilized bundles together while changing the direction of twist of said bundles.

HARRY R. BUCKLEY. 

